The Commission on Elections announced Monday that the Resident Election Registration Boards (RERB) of the Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (COAV) have approved the applications for registration of 4,751 absentee voters.

The applications were approved during the RERB's first hearing on April 4, 2009.

COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez noted that while the number is a far cry from the poll body's target of one million OAV registrants, the COMELEC is still confident that it can hit the 1 million mark.

"With the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs' (DFA) Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (OAVS) and overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) groups worldwide, we are confident that we can still meet the target of 1 million overseas absentee voters for the 2010 elections," Jimenez said.

"We foresee a sharp increase in OAV registration in the coming months as posts and attaches all over the world have been stepping up its registration drive in their respective jurisdictions. We are also aware of efforts made by various OFW formations to encourage voter participation among their ranks," he added.

The DFA's OAVS had reported that a total of 52, 557 have applied for OAV registration as of April 21, 2009. According to the OAVS, Hong Kong posted the biggest number of OAV applications at 5,715. It is followed by Los Angeles with 3,981; London, 2,569; Toronto, 2,322; Dubai, 1,947; New York, 1,859; Washington D.C., 1,541; Brunei, 1,379; and Tokyo, 1,224.

Meanwhile, the OAVS reported that a total of 11, 590 overseas absentee voters' have applied for registration at the OAV registration centers in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

"The COMELEC enjoins the millions of OFWs the world over to participate in the 2010 elections by registering as overseas absentee voters," said Jimenez, noting that OAV registration will run until August 31, 2009.###